1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicle mirror assemblies, and more particularly, to a glass unit for exterior mirror assemblies in which the mirror plate is spaced from the front side of the carrier plate by a series of holding bars.
2) Description of Related Art
Glass units include a reflective mirror plate, which is fixed to a glass carrier plate. Adhesives are commonly used for securing the components together in a fixed arrangement. In order to hold the mirror plate in the desired position while setting the adhesive and to protect the edge area of the mirror plate from damage, it is known from EP 0 659 609 B1 to provide the glass carrier plate with a circumferential edge within which the mirror plate is fitted. This arrangement, however, requires comparatively low tolerances that must be observed with regard to the shape of the mirror plate contours and the shape of the circumferential edge, which results in higher production costs. Additionally, there is the risk of excess adhesives spilling over onto the edge area between the mirror plate and the circumferential edge and thus the mirror plate becoming contaminated when affixing the mirror plate to the glass carrier plate. This requires elaborate cleaning to remove the adhesive, which also leads to increased production costs.
Accordingly, in view of the problems associated with the teachings in EP 0 659 609 B1 it is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a glass unit for vehicle mirrors that guarantees a precise fixing of the mirror plate to the glass carrier plate without having to observe extremely low tolerances during manufacturing.